On British heavyweights

‘I’d call ours B-tier at the moment, just below the top guys. I believe David Haye has great talent, speed and movement, as well as punching ability. I think his one mistake was not going Stateside, where they love that sort of showmanship. As for Tyson Fury, he seems good but he has yet to properly prove himself. Too many questions are still unanswered.’

On British boxing

'Going to war': Carl Froch
‘When you see our boxers fight, they really go to war and I love that, Carl Froch in particular. But they lack a certain amount of technical ability. Just take Andre Ward in Froch’s division. People might say he’s boring but he has got the titles and he gets the job done. You need all the technical stuff and that’s the big area where our fighters must improve.’

On getting to the top

‘I think it started at school. I can’t remember the exact moment but it would have been a bit like, ‘I can beat you in a race’, ‘No you can’t’, ‘Yes I can’, ‘Let’s have it’. It was always proving people wrong. For example, when boxing people said I didn’t have a jab, I’d work on that in training and show it in my next fight. That’s what drove me.’

On London life

‘I always love coming back to London. I’ve got a couple of meetings there next month. I love it and any time I have to be in Europe I make sure I stop in London first. It has changed a little bit, it’s always moving, moving as a city. Sometimes it’s a bit crazy when you arrive from Jamaica where everything is so relaxed but London speeds you up, doesn’t it?’

On West Ham

Fan: Lewis would be up for giving the struggling Hammers a team talk
‘They are still my team, even after things like the 6-0 defeat against City. You just don’t walk away, do you? There’s probably a lot I could say about the team and the way they are going but I’m not sure how much I want to comment. I think I might regret it! But I’m over in London again soon and I’ll go to a game. Maybe I can go in for a team talk?!”